Bastrop Mayor and Police Chief discuss officer turnover

Wednesday

Jul 30, 2014 at 8:00 AM

Meghan Morris @BDE_Meghan

The recent resignations of several officers has left the Bastrop Police Department in need of some new officers.

Over the past two weeks, multiple local residents contacted the Enterprise with concerns about personnel turnover at the Bastrop Police Department. Mayor Arthur Jones and Police Chief Downey Black confirmed that the department has recently had three officers quit. According to Jones, it's normal for the department to lose a few officers once their required two years of service have been completed. The two year requirement is a safety net due to Risk Management having to cover the cost of entry testing for new officers.

“Anybody interested can come and pick up an application at the police station,” Chief Black said.

Aspiring officers will have to meet several requirements before they can be hired including passing a civil service test, background check, physical agility test, risk assessment/psychological test and having their results overseen by a review board.

“The kind of officer we are looking for is someone with good morale character, who is honest and willing to put in the work,” Chief Black said.

“We are interviewing every day,” Mayor Jones said. “The test is transferable, though, so some of them are applying in Ouachita Parish.”